Wizard of the Grove
A novel by Tanya Huff

On my way to the romance shelves of my local used book store in search of Sara Paige's recommendation from last month's issue, I swung through the Sci-Fi section (well, you could hardly expect me not to), and the cover of a nice fat fantasy duology, one of my favorite things, grabbed my attention. I picked it up on instinct, not really knowing if I would be able to finish it, or even get interested in it. Imagine my surprise when I found that, for all its fantastic (as in unbelievable) storyline, it was really just a romance novel wrapped up in a fantasy cover.

Wizard of the Grove has all the hallmarks of a Mary Sue, the bane of fanfiction authors and readers: a beautiful heroine with whom every man falls in love; that same heroine in possession of just the right powers to save the day when no one else can; and a storyline that revolves solely around said heroine, her love life, and her struggle to figure out who she is. But this is an original work of fiction, not based on already-created characters while merely introducing a new one, so I suppose we can forgive Huff some of her tendencies to make her heroine, Crystal, the be-all and end-all of human (and male) fascination. After all, the story really is all about Crystal: her creation as the last wizard, her battle against the evil (and yummily good-looking, but sadly non-leather-wearing) next-to-the-last wizard, and her search for that inside her which can save her from herself. Still, every time yet another man falls hopelessly in love with the silver-haired, emerald-eyed sweet young thing, my skin crawls in anticipation of Mary Sue-inspired hives.

My inner Women's-Studies-Major wants to point out that such wish-fulfillment fantasy is not uncommon in the annals of literature. How else can you describe Bond, James Bond, or any of the countless other testosterone-fueled romps through battles and beds that litter general fiction and SF/Fantasy shelves? But I can see Rachel shaking her head at me (from Australia, no less!), so I'll leave such musings for my own late-night boredom and get on with the review now.

Huff's writing frequently sparkles, except for in the places where she obviously worked really hard to get it to sparkle. In those places it just twists around itself, making dense prose. Plot-wise, the first book is better than the second, closing with a sense of completion the latter half lacks. This is unfortunate, in that there's nothing after the second book. The second half of the duology suffers from the lack of a definite sense of purpose, ironically echoing its protagonist's plight. The ending comes rather abruptly. (Just like that sentence did! Hey, I can echo things ironically too!) After all the buildup and turmoil the reader and characters go through, it's rather disconcerting when Crystal makes her final play, and we don't even ever really get a good description of what it is. It's as if Huff said to herself, "here's where I ran out of plot, so I'll just have Crystal figure out that thing the readers have known about for around 200 pages now, and end the damn thing." It's unfortunate that the book ends this way, because the novels, overall, are engrossing and entertaining, if slightly predictable.

Re-read Factor: Probably not, although I'll look for more by Huff in the future to see if she kicked that nasty Mary Sue habit.

Sequel Factor: Slim, although I wouldn't mind seeing the continuing adventures of Crystal's cohorts and adversaries.

Strong Chick Factor: Kinda. Crystal is weak enough to be a complete idiot in some respects, but strong enough to stand up for herself when it counts, as well as not be ashamed to lean on her companions for support when necessary. Sorta like an ordinary woman, I guess. And the goddesses we meet in the second book kick major ass, in that weird, not-mortal-so-totally-bizarre way I love so much.

-- Jen Hopper

Wizard of the Grove, published by Penguin, is currently available in paperback.

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